Hello jandc hope you are doing ok. I wanted to temporarily interrupt the bowls conversation just to ask if your surgery has a social prescriber. You may not need it but as you mentioned you are housebound it is something you may wish to investigate at some point. A social prescriber has extensive contacts and will come to see you and link you to various people/organisations etc that may be able to help broaden your links with the world outside your home. Also, you could try searching online with something like social contact for the housebound - you will be amazed at what you can find where you can see and talk with and generally join in with all sorts of things. Congratulations on your success at online shopping - I find the drivers excellent and will always help.
Re the bowling. My friend’s husband started bowling three years ago and loves it but I couldn’t believe how expensive it was to get started with all the kit he needed and from specialist shops to comply with all the rules and to actually be able to play. I’m with your grandson mary1947, wearing something practical is one thing being told how to dress is quite another - and I am a good few years older than he is lol.
Tot
Thanks tot for that helpful information. We have always avoided online, but needs must. Its a learning curve. Our surgery has been very helpful inrecent weeks( although their understanding of all things parkinsons is ver very limited. Never played bowls, always thought it looked quite a relaxing pursuit!
Morning Tot … Got to pull you up on how expensive indoor bowls is …
Yearly membership is £120.
£4.40p for a 2 hour game.
£5 to rent a locker for a year.
Free parking.
If you have never played you get free lessons, free loan of flat soled shoes. The club has bowls you can use free of charge.
Wear any grey trousers & any white shirt with collar.
Second hand bowls [set of 4] can easily be bought for £50-£60.
When I could play golf clearly I could not walk the course. So I had to rent a golf cart which is £25 a round. Membership is £1,600 a year.
Hello steve2
I don’t claim to know a great deal about bowels and I accept that playing is not the most expensive sport in the world and that you can get second hand bowels and wear clothing that ‘will do.’ However my friend’s husband when he had been playing for a few weeks with borrowed bowels etc and found he enjoyed it, wanted his own equipment as I think most would including bowels and clothing. That initial outlay was substantial and there is only one supplier who is relatively close to where they live to buy what they needed.
I also think that to attract younger people the views on acceptable clothing do need to change and I was pleased to read this when checking my facts
However what this document says and what I see of bowls being played, even when it is just general play and not a competiton or tournament when I accept you need to look like a team, there is still quite a strong adherance to the tradtional dress code and some strong voices that won’t accept anything less. History and tradition have their place in any sport but if you are truly wanting to change how your sport is portrayed, I think there is a long way to go. It’s no different really to how Parkinson’s has reinvented itself by dropping the disease bit - which makes it sound like some horrendouse contagious illness - it is now known more generally as just Parkinson’s which has done much to raise the profile of the conditon - although I accept that too still has a long way to go.
I wasn’t particularly being critical of the sport itself which I know gives you much, just making a general observation from what I see and know and to be frank what I think will be the same as many. If you are serious about promoting the sport as a viable choice and something that more could benefit from if they gave it a chance, it is people like me that you need to convince.
Good luck with the bowels and hope your appt with the urologist goes well.
Your occasional sparring partner lol.
Tot
Hello jandc, I am largely self taught on using a computer at home and certainly online but I have discovered I like the process of finding out how to do things and crucially nothing drastic happens if something doesn’t work lol You tube is a great place to learn how to do things and when using the computer generally you can ask it almost anything, even something as simple as how do I get a capital letter and it will give you an answer. So do explore and have a go - I look each year for different ideas for christmas cards and moved some of my photos off the chromebook and put them into photobooks for example and learnt how using YouTube and various apps - but be warned time can fly by if you get absorbed in something, one page will lead to another and it snowballs and you suddenly realise an hour and a half has gone by when you only intended a quick half hour.
Enjoy it
Tot
BOWLING???
you can play bowls most days on private or council greens you can pay a 6 months fee or pay a fee when you play most places will hire shoes and bowls, fee includeds 2 small mats and a jack. If you don’r wish to join a team then you can join on with the casual players, If you want to join a team then you do need to be in grey bottoms / white tops. Allthough some teams have there own code of colour within there tops. Bowling season starts around April till September this is outdoor on flat greens; north uk mostley play crown green this is when you have a hill /lump in the green , You can also play for your county ./ also ladies team / mens team, when the season ends you go and play indoors but the BEST yet is going to play at Skegness in think June , if you win you get a figure of a Jolly Fishman.
I read your post and sense you are an incredibly strong man who has already made changes to accommodate Parkinson’s.
You have a lot going on and it is often at these times Parkinson’s gets worse. stress, anxiety are the enemy and can cause symptoms to multiply, and worsen. I have had times when I couldn’t get out of bed , physically could not move always when Parkinson’s was winning and taking advantage of life’s inevitable challenges. I give myself a holiday, recover and remind myself it’s really is ok to be a bit wobbly, allow someone else to feel the joy of winning in sport and give them the gift of being the best,(occasionally )they deserve it too.
If you are able to allow yourself some time to recover mentally and physically from this experience you will be at your best to take up the challenge again. I know it was difficult for you not being able to play bowls and this has been your main focus but remember the person who drove your car home for you, the person who took you home, your friends and loved ones ,to me this was a good day in many ways as it also served as a reminder people supported and cared for you , this is in my view is a very special gift.
I wish you well and after a break hope you are back playing bowls or at the very least enjoying life (for the moment) as a spectator.
I appreciate that mary1947 and I am very aware that playing is not always something steve2 can do as often as he would like and I do understand how hard it is to give up something, whatever it may be, that gives you so much pleasure. I was thinking more of the way your enthusiasm and love of the sport comes through so strongly in the way you write and how you ‘talk’ about it. I think it is good that it still gives you both a continued interest in the sport which, although is not the same as playing can keep your mind active, give you social opportunities etc or maybe even opportunities to promote the sport if you wanted that. Parkinson’s may have robbed you of your playing but the non motor benefits are important too; as long as you have that Parkinson’s may have won the battle but definitely not the war.
Tot
Good morning everyone … I saw an excellent neurologist [new] on Thursday. I have had my diagnosis altered slightly to Vascular Parkinson’s. He has suggested I reduce my Sinemet from 6 pills a day to 3 pills a day for a week & then stop taking them completely. This is an experiment. I can start taking the pills again if my symptoms worsen. The reason for this is that the Sinemet cause REM sleep, nightmares & insomnia & I do not get on with the Clonazepam & Melatonin I take that are to help but don’t.
Fingers crossed you get some benefit from the changes and that those benefits are of sufficient size that you notice a real difference in the quality of your life, Steve 2.
You’re overdue a bit of good news.
Tot
Good morning Mary … I have now been off my Parkinson’s medication for nearly
3 weeks and I am still waiting for the neurologist to get back to me as regards my datscan being normal or abnormal. He thinks it normal & that my Parkinson’s symptoms are mild and that my troublesome gait freezing and fatigue is something else.
I have only played bowls twice since I saw the neurologist. Once last Tuesday and once the Tuesday before. I went to the Indoor bowls club 2 days ago intending to play but when I got there I realised that I had no balance or coordination. So I came home.
I think I am going to put this down to my not taking the Parkinson’s medication. I am going to try & bowl again this coming Tuesday.
I have my 6 monthly appointment with my excellent Parkinson’s nurse on Wednesday and I wonder if I should rearrange until the neurologist gets back to me.
If I don’t bowl I do my 200 yard walk. This is quite difficult for me to complete as I find exhaustion sets in around the 100 yard mark, legs get heavy and lower back feels uncomfortable. I always feel tired after my walk and retire to bed to recover.
Since stopping my Parkinson’s medication my ability to do the 200 yard walk is unchanged.
Good morning, on this bright Sunday morn. Reading your comment, I feel it would be good for you to see your PD nurse. You will be able to go through your present symptoms and she will be able to document them and forward them to your Neurologist, this may help with their decision on your diagnosis.
Hope you go to bowls this week. If not able to play, would you enjoy sitting and watching the game? It would certainly break the monotony of the day
Good morning Hannah. Thanks for your reply. I have just got back from my 200 yard walk & feel I struggled more today & moving about my flat is very difficult. I move slowly from back of a dining chair, to door frame to wall. I really have to concentrate to make sure I do not fall. Back in bed now.
I did tell my experienced male Parkinson’s nurse Mike that I was seeing this neurologist. Mike highly rates his opinion & wanted to know his opinion on my datscan results.
I have recently updated the neurologist on my current symptoms.
If I see Mike the Parkinson’s nurse on Wednesday then I will have to wait another 6 months to see him again.
What if my diagnosis is changed from its current Atypical Parkinson’s to Unknown condition, what do I do?
No, I would not enjoy watching the others bowl. Bit like asking a reformed alcoholic to go and sit in a bar watching everyone else drink while sipping a coke.
Hi Steve sorry that I have been a While getting back to you. Sometimes it makes you wonder. I had problems I was finding that during the day and early mornings from my chest, I just could not move. I would just lay there and wait for hubby to come and help me. He was excellent he would slowly get me on my feet and get me walking again. My nurse ask me to keep a diary, which i did, but when my nurse and PD doctor looked at it , they said that there was no real evidence that it was my meds wearing off. So what is the reason that i am paralysis from my chest down and can’t move??? My nurse ask if I would see another PD doctor, so off i went again to the hospital, He ask lots of questions the gave me a px for Madopar A low dose but disperseable ones. I am already on Madopar day time and slow release ones for nightime. The thing is that is I feel stiffness coming on i can take these disporseable ones any time but only 3/4 a day. WOW they are working?? Just one other condition that has popped up, I lost my hearing in my left ear can not hear a thing. Went to see my GP on a Wednesday and Friday had a phone call from Pilgrim Hospital for appointment the following week, I saw one of the top Doctors I had a hearing test and other test, but they can’t a problem . The doctor said can i return in a week , of course so letter in hand went for second app only to be told that i did not have any app on that day. Just a minuet I have a letter hear to prove, one of the other doctor said WELL!!! I have five minutes to spear so I can see you. He also could not find any thing wrong. Now it was my left ear that i can no longer hear in, new letter from the hospital routine appointment ENT for 6 months from now, jhust a mo I can’t hear a thing? now on the letter it says ? not my left ear but my right one?? confused yes so am I,. any way spoke with Doctors sec, and I now have app this month, Back to normal !!! Right Bowling your right about just watching I also do not enjoy the game by watching, just a tip if you do manage to play Tuesday indoors find a spot that you can aim to , stand facing the spot and just let your bowl roll out of you hand, you know your self what bais you bowl is, as you probably have found out indoor bowling is quite different from out doors, Stay safen
M x
Hello Mary … Sorry to hear you have been having these problems, not really fair is it.
It is hard for me to explain the difficulty I have trying to bowl. Firstly I feel my insides are shaking. Also I cannot control what I do with my arms and legs & I am struggling with my balance. I know I cannot bowl feeling as I do.
I shall see how I feel tomorrow evening & then maybe I will have to cancel.
)they deserve it too.